law
professor and author. He became a born-again Christian while a tenured professor and is considered the father of the intelligent design movement
. A critic of what he calls "Darwinism" and "scientific materialism", Johnson rejects evolution
in favor of neocreationist views known as intelligent design
.
He was a co-founder of the Discovery Institute
's Center for Science and Culture
(CSC) and is credited with establishing the wedge Strategy
, which aims to change public opinion and scientific consensus
, and seeks to convince the scientific community
to allow a role for God in scientific theory (a position he terms theistic realism
).
This [the intelligent design movement] isn't really, and never has been, a debate about science, it's about religion and philosophy.
If we understand our own times, we will know that we should affirm the reality of God by challenging the domination of materialism and naturalism in the world of the mind. With the assistance of many friends I have developed a strategy for doing this. ... We call our strategy the "Wedge strategy|wedge."
The Intelligent Design movement starts with the recognition that "In the beginning was the Word," and "In the beginning God created." Establishing that point isn't enough, but it is absolutely essential to the rest of the gospel message.
We are removing the most important cultural roadblock to accepting the role of God as creator.
The subject is not just the theory of evolution, the subject is the reality of God.
We're not trying to prove the character of God through science. That's a bad idea. What I'm trying to do is clear away the misunderstandings, the debris that prevent people from accepting that God who wants to accept them.
Our strategy has been to change the subject a bit so that we can get the issue of intelligent design, which really means the reality of God, before the academic world and into the schools.